Method and apparatus for providing enhanced streaming content delivery with multi-archive support using secure download manager and content-indifferent decoding

摘要

A system, apparatuses and methods are provided to download and process data and other content streamed over a wide area network using one or more dynamically fetched, material specific, data handlers (e.g., download assistants). A download assistant fetches a data stream from a remote location and processes the streamed data iteratively using buffers and multi-threaded processes through the decoder (e.g., codec), allowing source material-specific processing of the data as it is streamed from one or more download sources as well as content-indifferent and platform-indifferent decoding. To minimize versioning issues, payload construction for secure delivery is simplified to packing and encrypting a directory tree containing any number of files or other digital media into an archive and, when needed, dividing a payload into multiple files or archives with a descriptor that lists the archives.

主权项

1. A method of preparing encrypted content for delivery to users, content being stored at a server for delivery to users upon request and encrypted, comprising:
storing a plurality of download assistants and a plurality of codecs; receiving a request for selected content from a user; generating a manifest comprising a listing of each file in a payload needed to fulfill an order to deliver the selected content to the user and an order number to identify the order; selecting a download assistant from among the plurality of download assistants to facilitate the fulfillment of the order, and a selecting a codec from among the plurality of codecs; transmitting to the user a link corresponding to the selected download assistant for accessing the selected download assistant; providing the download assistant with the manifest, a link to the selected codec, and a link to the payload; loading the selected codec into the download assistant; and streaming the payload to iteratively place content from each file in the manifest into buffers via the selected download assistant, and decrypting and unpacking the buffers via the selected codec to provide the selected content to the user.